MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 19 July)—Former Assemblyman Yasir Naga did not mind the small queue of residents moving from one table to another answering questions from the staff of the compensation claims office in Barangay Marinaut West here on Tuesday.
Like the rest, Naga is applying for compensation for the properties his family lost during the five months of fighting between government troops and Islamic State-inspired Maute-ISIS gunmen that destroyed most of the cultural and commercial district of Marawi City in 2017.
Naga, who was a member of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the defunct Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is applying for a P53-million compensation for the loss of their properties—Pacasum College, their ancestral house, and a commercial building—which were completely destroyed by the shelling and fighting.
He and the other claimants completed their filing of application in less than an hour despite the presence of a big crowd.
“I hope we get paid by December because like the rest of the war victims, we have suffered long enough,” Naga said
Under Republic Act No. 116961, otherwise known as Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022, government provided P1 billion to pay Marawi residents who lost properties or have relatives killed as a result of the fighting.
Lawyer Maisara Dandamun-Latiph, chair of the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB), said there would be three steps that claimants should undergo in applying for compensation, namely, the filing of the claims, review of documents, then the payment of the claims.
Latiph said the P1 billion earmarked would not be enough to pay the estimated 100,000 claimants. She hopes Congress would provide P7 billion more to cover the compensation in 2024.
Based on the MCB Implementing Rules and Regulations, Latiph said concrete structures that are totally destroyed will received P18,000 per square meter as compensation and P12,000 per square meter if partially damaged.
Latiph said owners of structures made of mixed concrete and wood would be compensated P9,000 per square meter.
She said heirs of those who died during the siege would be compensated P350,000.
“The burden of proof will be on the claimants. They should provide documents, affidavits and police reports to prove their claims,” Latiph told reporters here.
She said all the documents filed by the claimants would be checked against the data gathered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources “Katagombalay” information system; Kathanor profiling by Task Force Bangon Marawi that collected the number, location, status and other characteristics of the affected residents; and the Geographic Information System provided by the NGO International Alert.
Latiph said they also have records of the claims made by 12,500 residents of “ground zero” in Marawi, currently kept by the Lanao del Sur provincial government.
Marawi residents started filing their claims last July 4 after the MCB published the Implementing Rules and Regulations in the national newspapers in June.
Latiph said as of July 18, a total of 1,153 residents have filed their claims online and 479 resident opted to file their claims at the MCB compensation office in Barangay Marinaut West. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
